by Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

by Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

Wherefore art the film execs who thought it wise to take on yet another re-telling of Romeo & Juliet (** out of four; rated PG-13; opening Friday nationwide)?

While there is a pleasantness about this faithful Shakespearean reboot, there also is some woeful miscasting and a lukewarm feeling about the straightforward production.

Hailee Steinfeld is miscast as Juliet. So good as a feisty young girl in True Grit, there is a modern-day cheerfulness about her that doesn't work when playing a Renaissance-era star-crossed lover. She recites her lines with warmth and sweetness, but also too hurriedly, and with an innocent nonchalance that belies the headstrong passion of the character. Director Carlo Carlei awkwardly introduces her to the audience in a drawn-out, beaming close-up that seems better suited to a toothpaste commercial.

Douglas Booth as Romeo is more skilled in the passionate intonation department, intensified by his beautifully chiseled face. But his charisma is more akin to that of a fashion model than an actor. Physically He bears a striking resemblance to Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo in Franco Zeffirelli's sumptuous and definitive 1968 version.

Not well matched physically (she looks younger than her 15 years and he appears older than his 20) or in their delivery and cadence, Steinfeld and Booth display only intermittent chemistry. Worse, their climactic romantic scenes are merely pallid.

Paul Giamatti steals the movie as the helpful, world-weary Friar Laurence. Giamatti (who seems to be in every third movie these days, including last week's Parkland and next week's 12 Years a Slave) delivers his lines with wit, compassion and wisdom, bringing sly new life to a central character determined to assist the lovers, despite their feuding families

Others do not fare as well. Ed Westwick looks like he's wearing a Severus Snape wig as Tybalt and Christian Cooke is lackluster as Mercutio.

The screenplay was adapted from the Bard by Downton Abbey's brilliant creator Julian Fellowes. He's on much more fertile ground when fashioning early 20th century Masterpiece Theater fare than tweaking a well-loved classic. Unlike Baz Luhrmann's audacious re-working in his 1996 Romeo + Juliet, or West Side Story, which used Shakespeare's play as inspiration, Fellowes' script doesn't bring anything new to the famous tale of tragic teen lovers. This re-telling hews closer to Zeffirelli's turf, at least geographically (though it lacks anything remotely as moving as Nino Rota's lovely musical score). Fellowes returns the tale to its Verona setting, which makes for gorgeous Italian scenery and stunning production design. Those visuals elements, along with Carl Poggioli's elegant costumes, gives it a vivid storybook quality.

But none of that is enough to distinguish this tepid incarnation.

What made Zeffirelli's production soar was the superb casting of Whiting and Olivia Hussey and their believably intense ardor. Booth and Steinfeld don't strike enough sparks to make us care, even when their tragic end comes.

As for the feuding Montagues and Capulets, swordplay abounds, but it feels stagy and static.

Romeo & Juliet is an uneven, albeit handsomely mounted, adaptation. But it's a forgettable entry among the dozens of movie adaptations of Shakespeare's tragic romance.